


Flesh

by Moongirl12121



Series: Blue Ghosts [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Allura pov, Bad end, Betrayal, Corrupted!Lance, Corruption, Dark, I cried a bit writing this, Insanity, Kinda?, M/M, Mentions of Past Torture, Mentions of Suicide, Murder, Not A Happy Ending, Past Suicide, Pidge POV, Shiro POV, Shiro snaps, coran pov, destruction of voltron, holograms, it gets a little graphic, its highly stylized so its supposed to read a little... repetitive i guess?, keith pov, people die, shklance - Freeform, switching POV, the writing style is weird, violent wounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-03
Updated: 2017-11-03
Packaged: 2019-01-28 18:09:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12612380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Moongirl12121/pseuds/Moongirl12121
Summary: 1st end of my work Fade! READ FADE FIRST OR THIS WILL NOT MAKE SENSE.Allura couldn't believe that Lance had managed to bond so deeply with the Blue Lion that his Quintessence could stay even after death. When the team hears they're overjoyed, over the moon to hear that they'll be able to speak with Lance again. Worried about his safety, Pidge, Coran and Hunk scrub the Castle of Lions' systems sparkly clean. They don't want a repeat performance of King Alfor and risk losing Lance too....they should have made sure Lance was clean too.





	Flesh

**Author's Note:**

> Alright, off the bat I need to tell y'all thank you so much for the comments you left on my first story on here. Second, and very important!  
> I did two endings for this story. This is mainly because I couldn't decide how I wanted it to end, nice and happy, or horrible and suffering? This is the suffering version, the Bad enD.
> 
> Please be warned, people do die, it isn't pretty.

I was too stunned, I couldn't believe what my eyes were telling me. Floating in front of me was Lance. He was transparent, and glowed a soothing blue, but it was him. The same easy smile was on his face, just as I remembered it.

_"How?"_ I breathed, not really wanting to believe it. We had all grieved, most of the team was still grieving. In the heavy throes of it. If this was false, I couldn't be responsible for giving them any kind of false hope.

Lance's face darkened then, and so too did the entire astral plane we were on. I felt weight press in all around me. If I had needed to breathe here I would have been suffocated. _This is unnatural. He should not be able to influence this space, he should not be here at all._ Slightly panicked thoughts flit through my mind before Lance replied, his lips tight.

_"As I was fading out, Blue begged me not to leave her. So, I stayed with her._ " Lance paused here, glancing gratefully upwards, as though he would see Blue's metallic face hovering above him. " _She's been healing what Haggar did to my mind. I didn't want to reveal myself to anyone until I was better."_ He finished, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

He looked nervous, curled in a little on himself, just floating before me. He looked as though he would like to be somewhere else entirely.

" _The Blue Lion has merged your Quintessence with hers?"_ I asked, bewildered. This was unheard of. No other Paladins of Voltron had ever done such a thing. Their bond was deeper than even the Blue Paladin that had created the first bond. _In this manner however… it is disturbing._

Lance shrugged, not seeming to know the answers himself. " _I've been wishing I could talk to you all. Just listening through the bonds isn't as solid as you might think,"_ he tried to joke, but his words only caused a spike of shock to shoot up my spine, straightening it faster than my former tutor on Altea could when entering a room.

" _You are able to listen to the other lions? Able to hear their thoughts?"_ I asked eagerly. It made sense in a way. He was merged with the Blue Lion, and she could understand the other Lions. It would stand to reason they could all hear the other Paladins thoughts on some level. It would help in stabilizing Voltron at the very least.

Lance merely nodded his head this time, uncurling himself a little bit. The atmosphere changed instantly back to something lighter, and I felt myself relax.

" _Now that I'm better, do you think you could maybe… install me on the holodeck? Like how…"_ Lance was stumbling with his words, uncertain. He bit his lip, and the meaning of his words clicked in my mind.

_"You mean like my father?"_ I asked gently. That way at least he could see his friends, and they could see him. It made perfect sense.

Biting his lip so hard I imagined it would have started bleeding had he a body, Lance nodded again, looking away. " _I understand if you aren't able to, or if you don't think it's a good idea. I just wanted… I wanted to reassure them somehow."_ He looked so fragile in that moment, curled in slightly on himself, so different from how he had been in life.

_"Of course we can, but we should wait a little while so Coran and Pidge can do scans of the ship for any more of that Galra virus. We probably would not be able to lose you a second time, much less the same… the same way we lost my father."_ I replied, my own voice trembling.

Lance nodded in understanding, a serene smile spreading across his face. _"Thanks Princess, I'll let you go now so you can tell the rest of the team."_ As he spoke his form began to dissolve, disappearing as smoke in the wind.

…

My eyes opened to the empty cockpit of Blue before me. She made no sound in the back of my mind as I left, practically racing to the bridge to call the paladins together.

I met no one on my way, and began to wonder how long I had been speaking with Lance in that astral plane area. Had it been hours? Surely not, someone would have come looking for me.

Reaching the bridge, I saw Coran quietly working away at one of the panels.

"Coran!" I called, smile lighting up my face. Coming to a stop in front of my main controls, I waited for my advisor and close friend to turn to look at me.

He looked confused and tired, but he gave a weak smile when he saw my own. "Ah, Princess,  I was wondering where you'd been. Meditating in Blue again?"

"That is not all Coran, I must call the rest of the Paladins. I will tell you all of what I learned at once." Beaming, I turned on the comm link for the entire castle, my voice ringing. "Paladins? Would you please join me on the bridge? I have important information that cannot wait."

Coran looked intrigued, tilting his head. "Princess?"

"In a little bit Coran, you will have to wait to hear!" I was getting even more excited just by being the one to tell everyone the news. They would be so happy!

**PIDGE'S P.O.V.**

I groaned at the end of Allura's message. _What is so important that I have to go now? This project needs my full attention!_ Grumbling, I weighed the pros and cons of not going to the gathering. Shiro and Allura would scold me, but I would get further on this _infuriating_ algorithm to help locate my family.

Nearly snarling, I threw the tool in my hand against the wall as hard as I could. The metal tool I had no name for clattered to the ground, a sharp sound in the silence. _It's too quiet._ Standing, I left my tools and computer in place, heading to the bridge where Allura had called all of us.

The hallways were empty and always quiet now. I adjusted my headphones, pressing a small button to play the music from my phone. I couldn't stand the silence anymore, it was one more reminder that we had lost someone. It was impossible to concentrate without some kind of background noise either, even if I had memorized all the songs I had on my phone, I couldn't stop listening to it.

I wasn't the first to the bridge, but I wasn't the last. Hunk followed closely behind me as we entered. I crossed my arms, casting a small glare at Keith as he and Shiro came to a stop next to Allura's control panel.

It didn't matter to me that it hadn't _really_ been Keith's fault, that it was Haggar who had done this; Keith had stayed longer, explored deeper, to steal the container of Quintessence. As a direct result, Haggar had been able to corner Lance, and plant the seeds of her possession. I could not forgive him for that, no matter the guilty looks, or shame-filled sobs I would sometimes catch him crying.

He shifted into Shiro's touch, noticing me. Closing his eyes, he focused on Allura, whom was positively beaming, her hands clasped at her breast.

I raised an eyebrow. No one had been that happy in months. Not since Lance had killed himself at least. _What is this news?_

"Paladins, thank you for coming so quickly. As you know, I have taken Lance's place as the Blue Paladin." Allura began, the smile never faltering from her lips. I sneered, fists clenching. How could she dismiss this? Were Alteans so different?

"I know that I have not told the rest of you this, but Shiro, you remember when I spoke to you about the feeling I have whenever I connect with the Blue Lion?" Pausing, she looked to Shiro, whom had paled at the mention of her taking Lance's place.

He nodded mutely. Now Keith was glaring at her too, while Hunk shifted next to me uncomfortably.

"There is a reason behind it that I believe you all will find wonderful! Earlier today, I was meditating within the Blue Lion, as I usually do. I felt her pull me from myself-"

Shiro interrupted, a hard look in his eyes. "Princess, I know that you're excited to have bonded deeper with Blue, but we really didn't need to hear this. Your grieving may be different from ours, and I respect that, but you need to respect that not all of us are okay with the fact that Lance- that he's gone." Waving off her protests, he turned for the door, Keith willingly coming with him.

The rest of us made to follow when she blurted out something that made us freeze.

"But Lance was there! He's melded with the Blue Lion! He spoke to me!" She cried, tears gathering in her eyes.

Coran gasped, "Princess, are you sure? I know you wouldn't lie about this, but Lance? How could he have melded with her? They were far apart, and when we got there- he was already gone."

Allura shook her head. "I am not entirely sure. As best that he could describe it, Blue asked him to stay with her, so he did."

I was shaking, and my knees grew weak. They could not hold me, so I sank to the floor. Hunk was backed into the wall, looking like he was going to be sick, or faint. Both Shiro and Keith weren't moving, and were faced away from the rest of us. Their backs were so strained and tense I was sure they would hurt themselves if they didn't relax soon.

"He asked me to be transferred to the holodeck where Father once was. He wanted- he wanted to see the rest of you." Allura murmured, her expression and tone concerned.

Turning, I ran from the room, headed to the holodeck where we had seen Allura essentially destroy her father after he had been infected with a virus from the corrupted crystal the Galra had installed on the castle ship so long ago. My feet weren't the only ones rushing to the room.

When we arrived, I looked around desperately, expecting to see Lance floating somewhere or _something_. Instead it was merely an empty room.

Everyone behind me came to the same conclusion soon after I had, turning on Allura as she came to a stop, panting.

"I told him- we had to wait. Coran and Pidge, I would like you to do a sweep of the castle's systems. I do not want- I could not- I could not destroy Lance as I did my father. We must make absolutely _sure_ that none of the virus remains inside the systems. Only then will I allow Blue to transfer Lance into the castle." She explained, holding the wall for a moment to give herself support.

I nodded sharply, shuddering at the image of Lance shattering as King Alfor had.

"Nothing will be left unturned Princess. I won't let that virus touch him," my words were vicious, and I meant every one of them.

...

Coran and I scoured the systems, removing anything that might even be a trace of the vile virus. We scrubbed everything down in the systems, resulting in things working far more smoothly than they had been previously.

Finally Coran deemed the systems clean, and went to Allura to announce the good news. She told Lance inside the Blue Lion, whom roared in happiness. Green purred with joy that Lance would be safe.

We made the transfer, and I watched in amazement as the glowing particles, that now made up Lance, were installed. Everyone gathered on the holodeck as it was powered on.

The image was heavily blurred at first. Slowly the image solidified into someone painfully familiar. His eyes were closed as though he were sleeping, and he was wearing his civvies, the jacket blowing in wind only he could feel.

Slowly blue eyes opened, and an even slower smile stretched across his face.

" _Hey guys."_

**SHIRO'S P.O.V.**

It was agonizing. We all watched as he appeared, and spoke to us. I had so many things I wanted to say to him, so many more things I _needed_ to say to him. I remained silent as the others fell to their knees and began crying or yelling.

Lance looked so peaceful, so serene in the hologram. He knelt to where the others were, sympathy on his face. If he could cry, I was sure he would be.

Keith kept apologizing, over and over again. I realized with a start that Keith wasn't by my side anymore. Lance shushed him, telling him it wasn't his fault. Both Pidge and Keith stiffened at that, but bowed their heads.

After everyone else had fallen silent, he turned his gaze to me, eyes burning with something I didn't want to name.

" _Shiro, I've missed you too. Will you, will you stay?_ " He asked, seeming to think I was able to move my feet and leave this place.

I replied anyways, seeing the expectant look on everyone's faces.

"I couldn't be made to move,"

Lance smiled, a sweet thing I had often seen him casting mine or Keith's way long before we had gotten together. I shuddered at the thought, remembering dimly that we had never all really been together. It had been Haggar using Lance's body to fool us.

Everyone was gone, it was just Lance, Keith, and I. Lance was shuffling back and forth, hands gripping his elbows. His eyes were cast to the ground, and I hated the holographic form. I couldn't gather him close in my arms, I couldn't force him to look me in the eyes. I could only wait.

" _I know you must have watched… so you know that our relationship…_ " Lance cursed softly, the fake material of his jacket clenched tightly in his hands. " _This won't make it better, not by a long shot, but I loved you, both of you, so much. She did it to torture me. I'm so sorry, everything we did together was essentially me- I couldn't bear it if you guys thought I didn't want any of it._ " He rambled on, his voice slowly trailing off.

My hands reached for Keith, and held him close when the younger man fell into my arms. Keith reached for Lance's holographic form, clearly yearning to hold him too.

The scene around us disappeared, and we were on a beach, the ocean waves a soothing balm. Lance knelt before Keith, a heartbreakingly tender expression on his face. He touched the tips of his fingers to Keith's, sighing.

"We love you so much Lance, I'm so sorry… I shouldn't- I shouldn't have gone after that stupid stuff." Keith apologized again, I squeezed him in my arms.

Lance shook his head, a wry expression on his face. " _She was looking for one of us. She said that any one of the Paladins would do. I'm just glad she managed to find the replaceable one. If she had gotten to one of you, or Allura? Or literally anyone else on the team?_ " Lance shook his head, looking out to the ocean. " _It could have been worse._ "

"No! Don't you dare keep thinking like that! This team has been broken without you! There's no one to make us stop thinking about how depressing this entire thing is- we're in a fucking _10,000 year old war,_ against an enemy so powerful its ridiculous! And it's just the six of us now! Without your stupid jokes, and lame flirting, and warm smiles, and loud laughter, it's fucking _silent_ and no one can stand it!" Keith exploded, lunging forward to get in Lance's face.

I held him back, feeling almost detached from it all. What would I say? Keith was completely right, we were falling apart slowly without Lance. Even… even Keith and I. We had slept in Lance's bed that first night, but after we couldn't even bear to sleep together, or share more than an embrace. It was too much without Lance there with us.

Lance looked stricken, and surprised, settling on a soft smile. "Well, here I am. I'll do my best to keep this team from falling apart," he assured us, his fingertips tingling across our cheekbones.

I felt a small spark, almost faster than I could process, of sheer agony and fear. Leaning away carefully, I looked to Keith, seeing that he was completely relaxed, eyes closed. I had imagined it, and with the stress everyone had been under lately, could I really be blamed?

Sighing, I closed my eyes too, falling asleep on the floor to the soft humming of an unfamiliar song that Lance was making.

**CORAN'S P.O.V.**

My heart lighter than a knulfan, I skipped through the castle. It seemed as though life had been returned like a shot of Quintessence. With Lance inside the ship's system, we were able to see him, and thus cheer up. We moved our debriefing to the holodeck, just so he could interject with something inane that we would be so relieved to hear we wouldn’t mind.

It wasn't perfect, since on the missions themselves the others couldn't see him, but it was certainly better than before.

"Lance?" Warning bells rang in my mind, cutting off any reminiscing I had been doing.

The hologram was standing off to my side, not moving, just staring off into space. At his name, his head jerked around, eyes glowing before he disappeared so quickly I fancied it had been my imagination.

Chills went up my spine and arms. _Oh no._

…

"Is everyone here?" I asked, struggling to keep my face calm. Shiro and Keith were curled in each others arms, looking impatient. Pidge and Hunk were huddled around a computer, but looked up curiously as I spoke. Allura was sitting calmly, head tilted in question.

"What is this meeting for Coran? Why not have it on the holodeck?" Allura asked, eyes sliding to the exit almost unconsciously.

"It's to discuss… Lance," I admitted, waiting patiently as everyone murmured but quieted themselves.

"What about him? Is there some way to give him a body?" Pidge asked eagerly, leaning over Hunk to get closer to me.

I shook my head gravely. "Pidge, we need to do another sweep of the system. Something is wrong. Earlier today I saw Lance, he was standing near me, on the bridge. When he looked at me, his eyes glowed!" I insisted, noting with worry the frowns on everyone's faces.

"Coran, right now it's before breakfast. You think you saw him in the middle of the night? Are you sure you weren't just seeing things from lack of sleep?" Hunk asked, drawing to my attention to the fact that I felt bone tired.

Uneasiness crept down my spine, but I shook it off. “Oh, well that makes much more sense honestly. I am pretty tired,” I sighed, slouching. “Sorry to worry you guys.”

Shiro and Keith just grumbled something to each other, leaving. Pidge frowned at me, and Allura rolled her eyes.

“Honestly Coran, next time don’t panic and just think it through,” Her words bit at me, and I drew back, hanging my head.

“Sorry,” I muttered, making my way out of the room. Intense murmurs broke out behind me, but I ignored them, heading to my room.

…

Alarms blared through the castle ship, and I opened the comm, calling for everyone to the bridge. “The Galra are attacking! Everyone to their Lions!”

Mechanical giant lions shot into view on the monitors, plasma flames erupting as the enemy fighters go down. The castle ship began to shake, alert screens popping up while I rushed to correct problems and provide support for Voltron.

“The castle is taking heavy fire! I’m not sure how much longer we can be taking this- the particle barrier is only at 23% and falling quickly!” I cried out, “Allura watch out on your seventh!”

For a moment I noticed an ion canon charging up, pointed directly at the ship. My throat closed as the purple beam crashed into my home, eyes closing as well. I didn’t want to see the sharp decline in the particle barrier, or the cracking hull as I was obliterated into space.

Clenching up, I waited for a moment for the swirling of pressure that meant I would be sucked into the void of space where my lungs would explode and eyes melt.

Too long nothing happened, and voices were calling for an update now. Uncurling, I looked around. The ship was fine, I was alive- the particle barrier was at 87%. The functions of the ship seemed to have been reset to perfect?

“What on Altea…?” I murmured, ignoring the team’s calls for a moment more to check everything over. Things like this just didn’t happen, either Pidge, Hunk, or myself had to repair things, they didn’t _fix themselves_.

“ _Coran? Report in damnit! What’s going on?_ ” Allura’s voice rang through my mind insistently, drawing me out from my concern abruptly.

“Sorry Princess, I was investigating something strange. Most of the Galra have either retreated or been destroyed, its Voltron’s decision if we pursue,” I reported, double-checking the systems to make sure I was correct. _Had they really been that low in the first place? The stress of battle-_ I cut off my thoughts, angry with myself.

“I’m not going crazy,” I muttered. I _had_ seen the number of systems down, I had _seen_ the damage, and felt the ship taking damage. It just didn’t get repaired like that.

“ _We’re going to pursue and destroy. Everything on the ship alright?_ ” Shiro asked, Voltron already moving to destroy the remaining ships with Hunk’s bayard.

“Yeah, just some anomalies I can look at with Pidge and Hunk,” I replied, not wanting to alarm the rest of the team. Something was wrong with the ship, I just needed to figure out what it was, the faster the better. Fear lanced through me as a thought flitted through my brain. _Could there be remaining dregs of the Galra virus that corrupted His Majesty’s AI? Lance could be in danger!_

As the last of the Galra were destroyed, I rushed about, implementing the programming Pidge had designed. I worried as I watched it work, waiting for the others to come back, and waiting for results. Results came before the paladins, and I breathed a sigh of relief, they weren’t detecting anything untoward remaining in the system.

A small alert had me digging into the report a little deeper. _External Port Corrupted_. _Delete File?_ I clicked to read the full report, but it was blank. Returning to the page, the error message was gone. Unease crept down my spine, and I looked around the ship.

“Um guys?” I called out to the comms, drawing their attention.

“ _Coran? What’s wrong?_ ” Allura asked, her kind voice leaking through the comms.

“Something’s wrong with the ship, I don’t think it would be safe for anyone to return to it in the state its in. We’re going to need a tow to the nearest planet so Pidge, Hunk, and I can do repairs.” I replied, forcing down the anxiety. Everything would be okay, we weren’t going to lose Lance’s AI like we lost King Alfor’s.

“ _Just ask Lance to take a look at it,_ ” Pidge replied, their voice bored. “ _Since he’s part of the system, he’ll be able to tell you if there’s anything wrong with it._ ”

“What do you mean he’s part of the system?!” I demanded, backing away from the console I normally worked at, the entire atmosphere of the room dipping down as though the air was too heavy.

“ _We hooked him up to it. He was lonely when we weren’t there. So we gave him access to the castle’s systems so it could always see us if he wanted to. Also makes him a perfect diagnostic tool whenever something looks like it’s about to go wrong. Helped me out when I was running some simulations and couldn’t understand…_ ” Pidge’s words began to run together for me, and I couldn’t focus on them.

_“Coran? Why’re you scared buddy?”_ Lance’s voice seemed to echo around me before coalescing behind me.

I whirled around, mouth open to gape at the flickering form of Lance. Purple had seeped out to cover most of his skin, and his eyes glowed a sickly yellow. It was nauseating to see him so thoroughly corrupted by the Galra magic.

My stomach wanted to heave out its contents, hearts beating double-time.

_“Awww, I see. You don’t want to cooperate? Such a shame. I’ll remember you fondly,”_ he chuckled darkly, stepping closer to me. The other lights shuddered off, the glow of his hologram the only light in the room now.

Opening and closing my mouth, I stumbled back, my hands catching on the edge of the console. Quickly I typed out a distress signal, sending it to Allura. Lance grinned at me, fangs growing to hang from his mouth.

_“Sugar, don’t you know you’re the last one? I already have everyone else. I even had a grand ending planned for all six of you. How will I make it work with only five? Get Slav? The Blade involved maybe?”_ Snickering, Lance continued to step forward until his form was almost brushing against my own.

“How? You- you can’t have gotten to them completely! Plus- they aren’t even in the castle!” Theories swarmed my head as to how it could have happened, but I waited for his own words.

_“Once Blue let me in, I found myself just languishing in a pit of this slimy stuff. It was oozing out of me, and Blue was trying to get rid of it you see, but I’m sure she wasn’t prepared for the amount of corruption I held. I allow Allura to pilot Blue, and through the bonds I have slowly corrupted not only the Lions, but the other Paladins.”_ A sick laugh was wrung from Lance’s holographic body. He stepped away, doubling over from it.

_“It was so pathetic how_ easy _it was! Everyone was so desperate for a Lance that they didn’t bother to check and make sure it was the exact Lance that died. So I filled Hunk’s mind with cheesy jokes, I mothered Pidge, and laid with Shiro and Keith. Did you know Allura was the easiest to corrupt? She holds such hatred inside herself already, I’m surprised she didn’t act on it before. Shiro was much harder honestly, he knew some of the signs, but a happy Keith kept him blinded enough for me to snatch him too~!”_ Lance clapped his hands, twirling around.

“What do you have planned for them? Why are you doing this?” I asked, hearts alternatively freezing and beating double. The result was a confusing mixture that almost evened out into what could be mistaken for a singular heartbeat.

Lance looked thoughtful for a moment, tilting his head this way and that. _“It sounded like a fun idea to try out.”_ He replied, giggling at my look of absolute defeat. _“As for what I’m going to do, nothing they wouldn’t want to do. We’ll destroy the Galra, but this time without caring who gets in our way. Once that’s done, we’ll go and find another wormhole, and do the same thing, or we’ll move on to the next biggest race, destroying them one by one until only the smallest group is left, or they die. Whichever comes first.”_

“No- you _can’t_! We’re the Defender’s of the Universe! You can’t make them kill innocent people like that! The Lions- they’ll-” I sputtered, pleading. “It will destroy everything, every hope, every good thing. Voltron is the ultimate good- you can’t make him into a murderer! I won’t let you!” Gaining strength, I slammed into the hologram, my hands meeting resistance, shoving Lance away.

I spun back to my console, working fast to pigeon-hole Lance, or at least lock him out of what I was doing. Lance just snickered, arms crossed over his chest.

_“You can’t stop this Coran. Even if I’m gone, they’ll still be corrupted. Nothing will change that.”_

“We’ll see about that.” I muttered, fingers flying over the keys almost as fast as my mind spun the code and different orders. The ship began to vibrate, green lights flickering before turning red. I didn’t stop, even as I felt Lance looking over my shoulder, his curiosity getting the better of him.

Pain panged in my chest as I looked at the twisted version of the boy I had loved.

“Goodbye Lance,” I told him, initiating a forced clear-out, total reset. The rest would expand to the Lions that had just docked in the hangars. The people, I would have to work with personally to get back to normal.

Lance grinned, stalking forward, plunging his hand inside my chest. _“I guess I’ll take you with me then.”_ Lance began to flicker, discomfort crossing his face. Mouth dropping open, Lance let out a blood-curdling scream that had me flinching away from him.

Absently I watched as one of my hearts remained in his hand. Looking down there was no damage I could see on myself physically, but it felt as though I was bleeding out from within. Sliding to the ground, I watched as Lance’s image shuddered and went to his knees, throwing back his head and screaming again. He clutched his head, eyes wide open.

_“You fucker, I wish I could have given you a slower death!_ ” He hissed, form slowly disintegrating. The castle began to shake, and I heard shouts coming our way along with thundering footsteps.

My body was twitching, the world darkening around me. I had to explain to them what happened, they couldn’t just have nothing.

The doors to the bridge sprang open, the five paladins rushing inside.

Lance was still dissolving, but he wasn’t able to say anything anymore, instead choosing to glare.

“Coran! What’s happened?! Why is Lance- Lance!” Shiro yelled, rushing to Lance’s side, hands hovering just over the breaking pixels. “No no no no no no no no NO!” He screamed, having fallen harshly to his knees. Shiro threw back his head, eyes glowing yellow, tears slipping down his cheeks.

I looked with horror as the rest of the team fell around Lance, their eyes either completely glowing yellow or the whites glowing yellow. They crowded around him, crying and howling as though they themselves felt his pain. No one spared me a glance as I tried to get their attention. I couldn’t hold on much longer, and they needed to _know._

“We’ll fix this- we can fix this! We have to fix this! I can’t lose Lance again!” Hunk cried, sinking to his knees, burying his face in his hands.

“You never had him back! That wasn’t the Lance we all knew and loved Hunk- You’ve all been corrupted by the Druid Magic that drove Lance insane, he was the same as Alfor was at the end- corrupting the ship- he was going to corrupt you so thoroughly you wouldn’t have batted an eye slaughtering innocents- you have to believe me!” I wanted to scream, but the words were coming out as small gasping sounds. 

Coldness was sneaking inside me, and I dropped down, eyes unable to move from the ceiling. Snarls began to erupt from the team I had loved, the child I had helped raise. I couldn’t hold on anymore, I would have to trust that they would be able to heal themselves without me. 

**KEITH’S P.O.V.**

Lance was disintegrating away, too broken to speak. I imagined  this must have been similar to how he had died the first time, but I wanted to stop imagining that as soon as I started.

I felt as broken inside as Lance was outside. With a soft gasp, the hologram disappeared completely.

The world was empty again, slowly sucked away by the emptiness threatening to tear me apart. Dimly I registered that Shiro, Pidge, and Allura were snarling at each other like animals, words garbled by something.

Hunk was sobbing, curled in on himself. I stared at him, watching as his strong body shook from the force of his emotions. Coran was… lying on the floor, staring straight up at the ceiling. Odd. 

I tuned into the snarls, automatically moving to get between them all and stop them from hurting each other. _When did this become normal? Have we always snarled? Have their eyes always glowed like… we look more like Galra?_ I shook off confusion, frowning.

“Everything got wiped! _Everything_! I installed this system to protect us from another Galra virus- only Coran and I knew how to implement it- it couldn’t have activated by accident. Coran erased Lance on purpose! He destroyed him on purpose! Coran- why did you do this?!” Pidge shouted, whirling to look at the advisor that hadn’t moved.

Oh.

Allura froze, hands clenching and unclenching. “Oh,” she murmured, eyes flashing brightly. “How did that…” Allura’s gaze snapped to something lying where Lance had dissolved. A snarl pulled at her lips. “Lance did this, its his fault.”

“Lance wouldn’t do something like that! You take that back!” Shiro looked wild, eyes pulsing yellow. He launched himself at Allura, hand remaining deactivated for now. I leaned back, feeling dazed and wrong.

I looked to where Allura had, seeing something leaking a thick blue liquid. Getting closer I recoiled, recognizing it as a heart. Coran had told us once in one of his rambling speeches about Altean anatomy. They had two hearts, and their blood was blue. There wasn’t any blood on Coran, but it was definitely one of his hearts.

Pidge had disappeared from the snapping and fighting two that had tumbled to the ground. Looking around, I saw them frantically typing away at their laptop, tears slowly leaking from their eyes. Someone screamed in pain, and I jerked my head around, watching dimly as Shiro grabbed Allura by the back of her neck, his Galra hand glowing. With a heave, Shiro threw Allura next to Coran, his shoulders shuddering from big panting breaths.

“Shiro! What are you doing?!” I demanded, my voice distant to my own ears. Shiro whirled on me, snarling. His eyes were glowing yellow, and he lunged for me, hands outstretched. I dodged to the side easily, eyes widening at the heat of his Galra hand. _What’s become of us?_ The thought was distant, not really trying to struggle to the front of my mind. I let it slip by.

Shiro was in a rage, blindly swinging at me. I managed to get in a few hits, but mostly I was dodging. He may have been snarling and fighting like an animal, but I had a feeling I was looking at the Champion that had defeated everyone he came up against in the arena.

_How would this end?_ I thought, watching as my limbs began to slow down in their response time. _Oh. Like that._

Pain sizzled in the air, and I dropped like a stone, sliding free of Shiro’s hand. He didn’t even pause, body moving automatically. I watched helplessly as he stalked Pidge, their small form probably trying desperately to find some remnants of Lance to resurrect. With a choked gasp, they too, fell to the side, laptop clattering to the ground.

Hunk was last. He hadn’t moved from his spot on the floor, curled up right next to where Lance had been. He rocked back and forth slowly, silent. Shiro moved stealthily, making sure his footsteps weren’t heard by the larger man.

“Hunk,” I croaked, but regretted it instantly. _It would be better to die not knowing_. Just as Hunk turned, Shiro was on him, plunging his glowing hand into the soft flesh of Hunk’s shoulder. Hunk let out a shout, attempting to throw Shiro off.

The sound of Shiro’s hand sliding through Hunk’s flesh was wet. I wanted to gag, I didn’t want to see anymore. No matter how strong Hunk was, Shiro would beat him. _Should I even call him Shiro anymore?_

Champion continued his attack of Hunk, but I closed my eyes to it, hoping the blood would leak from me faster so I could go ahead and die already. A loud thud had me flinching back, groaning from the pain in my abdomen. One set of panting breath was all I could hear for a while before it turned into sobs.

Eyes opening a crack, I saw Champion kneeling next to Hunk’s body, hands clutching at his hair. I must have made some kind of noise, because he turned to look at me, eyes wide. Tears flowed freely from the yellow orbs, wide with horror.

“Keith, what have I done?” He asked softly, eyes dropping to the blood pooling around my body. I could only watch as he began to sob harder again, my body feeling colder and colder until I noticed darkness seeping in. Then it was all just numb.

**Author's Note:**

> What did I tell you? Violent right? Worry not! I already have the Happy enD written up, I'll be posting it next week.  
> Thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you liked, and didn't like below in a comment!


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